


Are We or Aren't We?

by mikkimouse



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Accidental Dating, Everyone Thinks They're Together, M/M, Misunderstandings, Oblivious Keith (Voltron), Trope Bingo Round 14
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-29
Updated: 2020-05-29
Packaged: 2021-03-02 20:54:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,338
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24433159
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mikkimouse/pseuds/mikkimouse
Summary: Everybody seems to think Keith and Shiro are dating. The problem is, they're not.Or are they?
Relationships: Keith/Shiro (Voltron)
Comments: 26
Kudos: 217
Collections: Trope Bingo: Round Fourteen





	Are We or Aren't We?

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the prompt "Everyone thinks we're a couple" on my [Trope Bingo board](https://mad-madam-m.dreamwidth.org/17415.html), and that leaves me with just three stories left to write for a blackout!

" _Pidge!_ " Keith stormed into the workshop. "Can you tell me why the hell _everybody_ thinks Shiro and I are dating?" 

Pidge popped up from behind her computer and frowned at him. "...because you are?" 

"What?! No, we're not!" Keith was _reasonably sure_ he would've known if he was dating anyone, let alone Shiro. "Where is this _coming_ from?!"

Pidge pushed her chair out from behind the desk. "You're seriously not dating Shiro?" 

"No! And you, of all people, should know that." Keith paced. "The last three ambassadors I've met with have asked me to bring him to diplomatic dinners. As my _boyfriend._ At first I thought it was just a misunderstanding, but then Kolivan asked me about it! _Kolivan!_ "

Pidge pulled her legs up into her chair and crossed them. She looked thoughtful. "Well, I can see why they think that. You guys have lunch together every day." 

"Friends have lunch together," Keith reminded her. "And I had lunch with Hunk today! Nobody thinks I'm dating him." 

Pidge didn't look convinced. "Yeah, you had lunch with Hunk because Shiro was in a meeting. He told me about it." 

That was true, but Keith really didn't see how it was _relevant_. "Eating together doesn't mean you're dating someone." 

"I mean. You're not _wrong_." Pidge sighed. "But it's more than just the lunch thing. You guys go everywhere together. If Shiro has a plus-one for his events, he brings you. When you get back from Blade missions, he's the first person you go to see. When Shiro's overworking himself, you show up at his office to drag him home or out camping so he gets a break." She kept ticking items off on her fingers. "Plus, neither of you can go _ten minutes_ without bringing the other up in conversation and talking about how amazing he is. I'm not kidding. Dad's timed it." 

Keith stared at her. "He what?" 

"Literally timed it." Pidge held up a phone. "With his _phone_. He said Shiro brought you up five times in a thirty-minute conversation to talk about your piloting or your leadership or—" 

Keith's face heated. "I'm sure it was relevant to the conversation." 

Pidge gave him a flat, unimpressed look. "They were talking about manufacturing contracts."

"Oh."

She shook her head. "Wait, so you guys really _aren't_ together?" 

Keith leaned against the side of her desk, rubbing his forehead. "No. We're not. Don't you think we'd have told you?" 

Pidge shrugged. "There's a lot of reasons you might not have. I figured you'd tell us when you were ready." She peered at him. "Do you _want_ to be together?" 

Keith crossed his arms, like that might somehow protect him from the question. "I don't know. Maybe? I haven't...really thought about it." 

Pidge pulled her glasses down just far enough to give him the most judgmental look Keith had ever seen in his life. "Right." 

"I haven't!" Keith protested. "It's not like it would ever happen, so I didn't think about it." 

"...I feel like that answers my question." Pidge wheeled back behind her computer desk. "Anyway, Shiro's apparently into you, too, and everybody already thinks that you're dating, so please go have your crisis somewhere else. I've got a program to finish." 

"You're supposed to be my friend," Keith reminded her.

"I am, but I'm the one who kicks your butt when you're being stupid. If you want sympathy, Hunk's down the hall." She put her headphones back on. "He'll make you cookies."

***

Keith ended up going to see Hunk as well, mostly because Pidge had a point about the cookies. If he was going to have to deal with uncomfortable realizations, it was always better to do so armed with Hunk's baking. 

Pidge wasn't _wrong_ , was the thing. Keith had had a crush on Shiro almost since they'd first met. And that...hadn't ever really gone away. He'd expected it to, as he'd gotten older, but it had only changed into something deeper. Something a lot more like love. Something that probably _was_ love, if Keith even knew how to define that. 

Although apparently everybody _else_ at the Galaxy Garrison thought that's exactly what it was. 

But did Shiro? 

That was the real question. 

Keith wasn't really sure how to bring _up_ that question with Shiro, but it probably needed to be asked. And the best way to handle it was head-on. 

He got his chance the next day when they were walking back to their apartment building from work. 

They stopped at a coffee shop to grab a snack and a drink, and they were waiting in line behind a couple taking ages to place their orders when Keith turned to Shiro and asked, "Did you know everybody at the Galaxy Garrison thinks we're dating?" 

Shiro coughed and stared at Keith, his eyes huge. "What?"

Keith frowned. "No one's mentioned it to you? I've had three different ambassadors tell me to bring you to a diplomatic dinner as my date _this week_." 

Shiro didn't respond. Shiro continued to stare at him, shocked, and then...maybe hurt? But why would he be _hurt?_

"Shiro?" Keith asked tentatively. "What is it?" 

"You, uh." Shiro cleared his throat and looked away. "You don't think we're dating?" 

Now it was Keith's turn to stare at Shiro, because of all the reactions, that wasn't one he'd expected. "Wait, you _do?"_

__Shiro's cheeks were turning a dull red and now he was studying the chalkboard menu above the register with an intensity normally saved for the bridge of the _Atlas_. "I'm sorry. I thought—" 

"We're dating?" Keith's voice went a little high-pitched at the end of it; he couldn't help it. "Like, you seriously want to be dating me?" 

"I thought I _was_ ," Shiro said quietly. "But you...don't? Do you not want to?" 

"Of course I want to!" Keith burst out. "But you never mentioned it!" He gestured between them. "We never talked about it!" 

Shiro's gaze flicked from the menu back to Keith. "I tried to, but we were interrupted, and when I brought it up again, you just smiled and said it was all right, you felt the same way." 

"The same..." Keith only half-remembered the conversation. "I thought you were telling me you wanted to stay friends!" 

Shiro looked stricken. "I was trying to tell you I wanted to date." 

Keith wanted to _kick himself_. "We could've been dating all this time?!" 

"I thought we were," Shiro said again, but the stricken look was fading from his face and he was regarding Keith with a mixture of fondness and disbelief. "So just to be clear, you _do_ want to be dating me?" 

"Of course I want to," Keith said. "I love you. I just...didn't think you could feel the same way about me." 

Shiro smiled and shook his head. "Keith...how could I _not?_ "

Shiro's smile filled him like a warm drink on a cold day. Keith reached out and took his hand, threading their fingers together. "Okay, then. So we're definitely dating?" 

Shiro nodded and lifted their hands, brushing a kiss over Keith's knuckles. "Yeah, we are." 

" _Woo!_ " someone yelled off to their right, and the entire coffee shop exploded with cheers and applause. 

Keith nearly jumped out of his skin; he'd completely forgotten they were in public. His face was probably hot enough to steam the milk. "Uh." 

At least he wasn't alone; Shiro was about the color of a tomato. 

The barista grinned at them. "So now that you gentlemen seem to have worked things out, can I get your drink order? Or do you need a few more minutes?" 

Keith buried his face in his free hand. "I need the ground to swallow me whole." 

"Sorry," Shiro said to the barista. "My boyfriend's kind of private."

The barista snorted, but Keith ignored it for the way his heart flipped when Shiro said _my boyfriend_. He could get very used to hearing that. 

And hopefully he'd be hearing it for a very long time to come.

**Author's Note:**

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